Lazy
by SakiJPC
Summary: "What do you think? She's strong, sure, but is she strong enough? I don't think anyone has survived anything like this. She's gonna get swallowed up." "She'll be fine. You can feel it, yeah? Her soul is trying to fill every inch of this place." "It's one soul. How much can it do?" "Remember, we were one soul, a long time ago. Now, let me sleep."
1. Exhaustion

" _What do you think? She's strong, sure, but is she strong enough? I don't think anyone has survived anything like this. She's gonna get swallowed up."_

He shifted onto his back, staring up at the sky. "She'll be fine. You can feel it, yeah? Her soul is trying to fill every inch of this place."

" _It's one soul. How much can it do?"_

" _Remember, we were one soul, a long time ago." He rolled over onto his side. "Now, let me sleep."  
_

* * *

Ruby was asleep, safe in her bed, in her house on Patch. Of course, if you were able to ask her in that moment, she would say she was wide awake. In a way, she was. Her world was bone and sand, the same world she had been wandering around in for the past week. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't a fan of all the sand everywhere. It was coarse, and it got into everything, including under her toenails when a particularly loose patch caused her to slip somewhat down a rather large dune. In her dreams that she would swear up and down felt real, she was always moving towards a clump of big white structures in the distance, glowing gently in the night. They weren't particularly large to her eyes, but that could have been the distance. After all, there were no easily comparable landmarks other than a few scattered, scraggly trees. There were no leaves on these bone-white trees, and yet they would wave in a nonexistent wind as they cast long shadows that blended into the darkness.

The glowing white spires beckoned softly in the distance, and Ruby continued her trek forward. After all, she already knew she wasn't going to wake up until the morning anyways. Time almost seemed to move slower in the desert compared to when she was in her own world. The trek was utterly dull and repetitive; the strange, crescent moon that hung in the sky only held her attention for a few seconds before it became another part of the scenery. The utterly unremarkable scenery.

The spires became her only target, and Ruby trudged onward. Occasionally, she reflected at the eagerness she had when she first spotted the structures in the distance. She remembered eagerly running as fast as her bare feet could take her, excited that there was finally something to do in this utterly boring wasteland! Unfortunately, her running quickly became jogging, that finally devolved into her current leisurely, trudging pace towards those spires.

The chain attached to her chest hung loosely over the thin, almost translucent nightgown that covered her shoulders, chest, and thighs. The metal plate pinned the smock to her chest, while the rest of the chain swung free. She absentmindedly ran her hand over the links.

"Nine left. Four less than yesterday." Hopefully that meant her dream would be over soon. At the longest, maybe two days. There was always a few links missing whenever she found herself here, the broken links nowhere to be found. Four was a relatively small number. There were usually around six or seven gone per night. She was grateful when the chain had stopped dragging in the sand behind her the third night.

It was a nice night, she decided. She had only been in the desert for three hours or so tonight, so she expected another ten to twelve before she would wake up. This was the sixth time, and she could feel her progress towards the spires this time. It came as a shortness of breath, a rush of adrenaline. It was like she was walking towards a magnet. And as she crested the next hill, she knew she was right.

The large domed structure glinted softly underneath the sprawling spires, tantalisingly close and yet frustratingly far. Her pace was sluggish in bare feet and on the sand. But she ran anyways, towards something to do. There was the smallest of smiles on her face. "Finally." She slipped and slid down the dune, and managed to find herself tumbling down it.

Blue flashed in front of her eyes. She could feel the chain on her chest ripping, tearing away like she was being pulled apart. It hurt... but then it didn't. There was another flash of light, and Ruby found herself awake.

* * *

She woke sweating, gasping for air and sweating, her chest on fire, rolling out of her bed and falling to the floor. She patted the area gently and found nothing wrong, letting out slow breaths even as she tried her best to calm herself.

"Ruby? What is it?" Yang sounded kind of annoyed.

"N-nothing." Her voice came out dry and raspy, like she had spent the last few hours in a desert, which seemed almost appropriate for her tired mind.

"You've been weird lately, Rubes. Are you sure you're ok?"

"I... don't know. I think?"

"If you're feeling ok, then go to bed." Yang turned back over. "We're headed to Beacon tomorrow, remember?"

"Yeah." That's right, she was going to Beacon tomorrow. It was strange how real life seemed to slip away from her when she was in her dream, like that was what was important. The real, waking world she had been living in for fifteen years was the dream.

She smiled, determined. But that didn't matter, because she was going to be a huntress. "Right. Goodnight, sis."

"G'night."

And yet, Ruby couldn't help but look out the window at her shattered moon, and think about how fake it looked. She didn't sleep at all the rest of that night.

* * *

The next day she was exhausted, and on her way to Beacon Academy. Her bags were packed and she was on the airship. A hologram named Glynda Goodwitch was talking to one side, and there was a boy vomiting in the corner. She was kind of tired. And hungry. "I'm not feeling great, Yang." Ruby frowned.

"Are you gonna barf on me?" Yang glanced at the blonde boy in the corner that Ruby mentally dubbed 'Vomit Boy'. Ruby simply turned back into her chair and tried to fall asleep for what felt like the seventeenth time on that airship. Just like every other time, however, she failed.

"Come on, we're landing." Yang grabbed her a bit and dragged her towards the exit. "Maybe we need to get you to an infirmary after all." Yang definitely did not look happy.

"I'm just tired. I can get sleep tonight, I just couldn't seem to fall asleep last night."

"If you're sure. Come find me if you need me, though."

"Sure, thanks Yang." Ruby let out a small yawn.

She was tiredly looking around the courtyard, drawn to a statue there in front of one of the buildings. Of course, she wasn't paying much attention when she bumped into a trolley of suitcases. One of them seemed to teeter and topple in slow motion as it began to fall off of his precarious stack, so she took it upon herself to grab and stabilize it before it would spill its contents everywhere. She was forced to grab and remove the suitcase before it tumbled the other direction, however. It tipped over and landed in her arms, creating a small puff of sparkles as the contents shifted.

"Excuse me, what's the hold up?" A girl in white appeared behind the trolley and the man inside. She circled around the other side of the pile and glared angrily at Ruby. "Are you... Thief!" The girl brought up her rapier, anger in her eyes. Ruby herself was finding it hard to care, holding a rather large suitcase in her hands, so she began to put it down. The other girl was lunging at her, after all.

"Miss Schnee, there was no-" The trolley man began, but the deed was done. The suitcase was on the ground, and Ruby was staring at the slit on the side of her corset. "Man, am I going to have to repair that?" She said, somewhat irritated. "This is supposed to be my combat outfit." She tugged at the slit, looking for any other damage. The skin underneath was unblemished. The other girl was, however, looking not at Ruby, but at the suitcase.

"Get down!" She dived for the ground and Ruby found herself on the receiving end of a rather large explosion of ice and fire. She was fine, taking the explosion itself like a champ, but her clothing did not like the resulting tumble she took afterward. She felt the rip in her clothing catch on something, maybe the trolley? And a larger gash tore open on the side of her blouse. "Oh."

"Miss Schnee, there was no thief, this young woman was simply helping prevent the luggage from toppling." The man was terribly nervous.

"Oh?" The white girl, Miss Schnee, was getting up. "Oh." She was frowning now. It seemed as though there was not too much to be said. "My apologies then, Miss. It was improper of me."

"It's fine. Ruby glanced down at her now ruined outfit. "I'll just have to find another shirt for tomorrow."

The girl was frowning. "No, this was my fault. Hold on." Out came another suitcase, this time one filled with clothing rather than explosives. Out came a coat, white with black trim. It looked almost military in appearance. "Here, I wore this when I was younger. It should fit."

Ruby nodded simply, removing her torn clothing and placing the coat over her shoulders. It fit alright, she supposed, but didn't close all the way. Only the bottom two buttons seemed to be wide enough to wrap entirely around and fasten. "Hrm..."

"That's the fashion, the top button is decorative." Ruby nodded again.

"Thank you."

"Please, don't mention it. Really, please don't." Ruby nodded and began to walk away. She was sure the other two people didn't notice the black figure on a bench slightly removed from the scene, but she gave her a nod anyways. The other girl simply went back to her book.

By the time Ruby made it to the auditorium, there was a man clad in green getting ready to speak. Ruby caught the scent of something in the air, something that she couldn't recognize. It was coming from the stage, but she couldn't tell if it was coming from the man or something else. In the meantime, she saw Vomit Boy looking rather nervous. Yang seemed to sense her intentions, and gave her a shove on her shoulder. "Hey!" She did her best to stifle the yawn in her throat.

"Oh, hey." The boy didn't look very happy to be here. "This is just really... overwhelming. All the people and all that, y'know?"

"Yeah, I get it. Anyways, I'm Ruby! Nice to meet you!" Were her eyelids drooping? She did her best to perk up as much as possible.

"Hi. The name's Jaune Arc." Jaune cracked a smile, before seeming to deflate a bit. "You don't seem too good. Are...are you alright?"

Ruby nodded, letting out a small yawn. "Sorry, I'm a little tired."

"Yeah, I get it. Airships suck, right?"

"Yeah." In front of the crowd, the man in green was getting off the stage. "Do you have any idea what he said?"

"I'm not sure, I wasn't really paying attention." Jaune looked a bit nervous. "Do you think it was important?"

"...honestly, I dunno." Ruby rubbed at one of her eyes. "Do you know where to go now?"

Jaune shrugged.

* * *

It was night once more, and she was in the world of bone and sand. Before her were those spires that had taunted her last night, right there. Not even an hour's walk away. They surrounded a large domed building, with one or two windows or doors dotting the side that she could see. But that wasn't the interesting part. No, that was right in front of her. Or rather, it was her.

There was no chain on her chest anymore. She picked weakly at the hole that remained, the skin around it open to the air. Her smock had been replaced with what felt like leather armor, hugging her chest and stomach while leaving the hole(and not an inconsiderable amount of chest and stomach) exposed. She could pass her hand through it and touch her back, and yet no light seemed to escape the depths inside. It was like her hand had disappeared only to reappear on the other side. The leather covered her arms up to her wrists, ending in loose sleeves that drooped down when she swung them down to her side. However, the bottom half came down only to her knees, hugging her body like spandex. On her feet were knee-high socks with brown, woven sandals, similar to ones she might wear on the beach, a strap between her big toe and the rest keeping it on her feet. "At least I have shoes." She allowed herself a little smile.

However, when she started moving again, she could feel... something. She stopped suddenly, skidding but not falling on the sand. It felt off, like her Aura was backwards, or something. It didn't flow the same, not in the smooth, flowing curves and lines she was used to. Instead, it thrashed and snarled at her, wanting to get out. "Okay, calm down. Breathe... breathe." The storm inside calmed a little, but not much. She could feel it seeping out, coalescing around her eyes and grasping her neck, burning in her chest and coiling in her stomach. It burned her hands and twitched her legs. It filled her with this sense of dread, like she was about to waste away in the wind.

The feeling was getting progressively worse, she could feel the small bits of sand filtering between her toes. There was no pain, just an excruciatingly slow weakness that made her want to wake up. "This is a dream," She reminded herself. "When I wake up, I'll be at home- no. Beacon Academy, a school for Huntsmen. Initiation is tomorrow. I have a... a rifle named Crescent Rose. My parents live on an... airship? No, an island. Patch. I live with my sister... Yang. My name..." A long blink. "My name is..."

"You should eat." She turned sharply, collapsing into the sand. Behind her was a man in a white coat, a large lump slung across his shoulders. His face looked like she felt: exhausted. "You'll get swallowed up at this rate." He tossed his package at her, the blanket surrounding the contents falling to the sand. It looked almost like a lizard Grimm, covered in white armor. But the smell... it didn't smell good, but it did smell desirable. Like it was another sense of smell altogether that made the still twitching lizard seem appetizing. The man was sighing. "If you die here, then we'll have problems." He seemed distracted, so she looked back down at his gift.

The smell and the feeling was getting overwhelming. She grabbed weakly at the lizard and picked it up in both hands. It was writhing there, snapping at her hands, wiggling its legs to try and escape. But that didn't matter to her. She brought the lizard's skull to her mouth, and she began to eat.

It was surprisingly not very crunchy. More of a creme egg, really.

* * *

When Ruby woke up the next morning, she felt better than she had since before she had left for Beacon. She took it as a good omen as she prepared for the day, her new-ish white coat underneath her cape. After a boring, bland breakfast and an agonizing wait, Crescent Rose was finally in her hands as the group stared out at the treetops of the Emerald Forest. "Okay, Initiation. Here comes Ruby Rose."


	2. Roar

When she first was launched from the catapult, there was a brief sense of disorientation before she made it to the peak of her launch. Crescent Rose was already unfolded, the barrel pointed down and behind her as she prepared to fire. As she reached about twice the height of the treetops, she began to fire single shots from her rifle, using the recoil to send her further and slow her fall. Now, all she needed was a branch to hook on to...

There! She swung Crescent Rose around, ready to bite into the wood of a particularly large tree, when a bird somehow managed to fly into her face. "Gah!" Of course, the natural reaction was to panic. Crescent Rose was no longer in position, and the tree was coming right atherohDust-

She forced herself upright and skidded to a stop. Her scythe had failed to catch anything, but she managed to stay on her feet and skid to a stop, shifting the scythe back to a gun. She took the time to peer through the sights. All around her was thick foliage, and belo- "Gah!" Ruby found herself tumbling the last thirty feet to the forest floor, landing somewhat roughly on her left shoulder. Crescent Rose was knocked from her hands and she heard a sharp crack as it impacted against a rock nearby. "Oww." She picked herself up off the ground and glanced at the now barren trunks. Her gaze drifted upwards at the clearing where she had stopped a good few meters above the earth, about level with the lower treetops. "No glass, no wires... what was that?" She took an experimental jump and landed solidly on the ground. "Was that my imagination?" She checked her scroll, which was thankfully undamaged, then did a quick action check on Crescent Rose, which had been knocked from her grasp when she landed. No damage to the rifle, that was good. She began shifting her baby to scythe form.

"Oh, Dust." There was a problem. One of the slides had managed to bend inwards, locking up the main joint that let the stock swing apart from the blades stored inside. "That's not good. How did that even happen? She should be more durable than that." When she inspected the slide itself, it only increased her confusion. "That doesn't look like fall damage at all..." The entirety of the slide was bent inwards, with no point of impact to be seen. "It looks crushed. I'll have to fix it later. For now..." She gulped rather nervously. "I should find Yang." She glanced around, picked a direction, and started walking.

Her mind began to drift as she settled into a familiar, sedate pace. It was like in her dreams, she supposed. The foliage definitely made more noise than the shifting dunes of the night world, but there was less to look at here, nothing indicating the direction she should head in. She found herself placing the spires of her nightly walks in the imaginary distance, small bits of white peeking through the maze of leaves. Nothing to do but move forward.

She happened across another clearing, this one opening up towards a cave. There was a cliff that supported the structure; bland, moss-covered wall stretched as far as the eye could see. "Into the cave, or over?" To the right of the cave's entrance, she noted a picture of a scorpion, drawn in blood. "That's... eerie. Over it is then." She took a deep breath, and blinked in surprise. There was something coming from the cave. A smell? A... feeling? She found herself drawn into its depths. "Well, Ruby, no time like the present."

There was something there. She could sense it. It was that feeling again, like a scent wafting through the air... She walked deeper into the cave. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Ruby managed to find herself in a slowly widening clearing. Towards the back of the surprisingly small cavern, she found herself staring at a bone-white head. "Oh."

A... Deathstalker? That was the smell she had found? The giant scorpion was obvious in hindsight, but it made no motion towards her. It simply sat there. "Is it asleep?" Ruby muttered. The beast was on its stomach, the stinger curled above itself and hanging overhead. "So, why am I here?" She still wasn't sure. The smell was definitely coming from the Deathstalker. What was it about the Grimm... "Oh." Right. "It's a little big, though... I'm not that hungry..." She brought up Crescent Rose, letting the barrel hover directly above one of the scorpion's many eyes. "Here goes nothing..." BANG. The bullet successfully entered the Deathstalker's eye, spraying out an interestingly misty spray of black and red. Ruby brought the gun to the next eye and fired again. The Deathstalker was glowing now, rocks shifting as it got up onto spindly legs. "Oh, Dust."

Outside the cave, Ruby was being chased by a very, very large scorpion. Fortunately, the Grimm was having a hard time following her through the forest, crashing through the thick trunks that the Huntress could just dart around. She found herself heading towards a clearing, the sunlight almost blinding through the thinning treeline. After that, ruins spread out before her.

She broke the treeline, skidding to a stop and bringing Crescent Rose to bear. The Deathstalker was neither subtle nor quiet, and Ruby sent two, three, four shots into the beast before it reached the clearing. "Greeeat, Ruby. Backed into a corner." To her mild surprise, she couldn't feel that pit of worry that she presumed any rational person would feel in this situation. Broken mechashift, attacked by a Deathstalker, backed up to a cliff. Instead, a strange sense of boredom set in. Like the creature before her was like any other Beowolf or Boarbatusk she had killed in the past. Just another Grimm to crush.

That same feeling from her dreams began welling up. Like she was being lifted upside down and filled with water; a miasma of wrong seemed to grip at her. And yet, it was the most natural feeling in the world. It was spreading over her, inviting her deeper into its depths, sinking into her chest and covering her face. It made her hands twitch towards her hips, like there was something there that she should have been grabbing at. The Deathstalker broke the treeline, roaring in challenge.

And Ruby roared right back.

It was blinding at first. A beam of energy wider than her arm erupted in front of her face. When she could see again, the Deathstalker had lost the limbs on its right side, as did many of the trees behind it. "That's... really, really cool." She walked up to the dying Grimm, intent on finishing it off. It was flailing now, the claw on the left underneath the lopsided form and the tail limp behind it. The legs kicked up dirt and grass as it struggled in vain to right itself and kill the young Huntress. The scent she recognized earlier was stronger now, almost overwhelming. It was like someone decided that cookies now smelled exactly like dissolving Grimm. She took in a deep breath of the stuff, before coughing in panic.

The dark mist was coalescing around her nostrils, lingering like it was waiting for her to breathe it in. Ruby glanced around. "I..."

"Hey!"

Ruby's head darted in the direction of the voice, seeing the girl in white from earlier approaching her location. Ruby turned from the smoky remains of the Grimm and gave a little wave. "Hello."

"Did you do that?" The girl demanded. What was her name again? Did she tell her?

"Kill the scorpion? Yeah." It wasn't that big of a deal, apparently.

The girl gave the Grimm a once over, then nodded in satisfaction. "You'll do just fine." She extended her hand. "Weiss Schnee. Partners?"

Ruby took the hand in a firm grip. "Ruby Rose. Partners."

Weiss glanced around. "I get the feeling we need to head into those ruins. That's where a relic would be, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, probably." Ruby glanced out at the extensive stonework in the canyon. She noted movement moving towards one of the structures. "There. Other students. We should follow."

Weiss gave a nod, and the two were off towards the structure. Killing Grimm with the other girl there became less of a task and more of a chore. She didn't have her scythe, so Ruby simply hung back and spotted for Weiss, covering her back and giving instructions. Weiss was surprisingly compliant with her calls after the first group of Beowolves proved to be fodder for the pair. She was glad the Grimm smelled like they did. Ruby was also surprisingly okay with sitting in a tree and shooting things while Weiss was dashing around out there. It took close to twenty minutes of yelling "Behind you!" and reloading her gun before they made it to the structure. Weiss seemed satisfied with their teamwork and role assignment, and Ruby hoped that would be enough for her to get back with a partner. She needed to repair Crescent Rose and get some sleep.

Maybe the knight was a cliche chess piece, but it felt fitting. Ruby always did love fairy tales.


	3. Not Alone

"And finally. Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose." Weiss sent a sidelong glance at Ruby, who returned the look rather impassively. It had been a long day, and she wanted to get this over with. The trek back to the top of the tower was uneventful compared to the relative excitement on the trip to the relics. There were Grimm along the way to the top of the cliffside, sure, but nothing that the two of them couldn't handle. Weiss seemed glad that her teammate wasn't a coward or a screaming idiot, and Ruby found herself enjoying the agreeable silence that had formed between the two.

Yang, on the other hand, seemed a little more unsettled at the idea. Ruby managed to catch her giving the redhead a worried glance. Ruby almost frowned right back. She could take care of herself! Things went fine during initiation. Instead, she sent her sister the best smile she could muster. That only seemed to make Yang more worried.

She let out a small yawn. "Well, can we get to the dorm then? I'm exhausted." Weiss gave an affirmative, but Yang and Blake didn't seem as enthused at the idea. Or with her. Whichever it was, it was only Weiss who ended up following her to the dorm, while the other half of the team probably went to get food or something. Honestly, she found it hard to care as much. Yang could definitely take care of herself.

The room that would be Team RWBY's home for the foreseeable future was big. At least, it was, until Weiss managed to fit the last of her trunks into the room. The bed that Ruby had immediately curled up on had been shoved to reside underneath a shelf that seemed to be lined with textbooks. She lifted herself upright to stare at her partner, who seemed to be struggling to shove a wooden trunk underneath one of the beds. "How much luggage did you bring?"

"Enough." Was the short and clipped reply. "I do have standards, you know."

Ruby blinked. "You mean, six of the exact same outfit? I mean, white is great and all, but... I like wearing tee shirts sometimes." She found herself fiddling with the decorative button on her coat. It was a tough little button, she mused. It hung on through the whole initiation. Good for that button.

"I will have you know that i have ei-... uh, ignore that." Weiss blushed a tad. Ruby simply shook her head in response as she scanned the room.

"So, how much stuff is in the storage space?"

"Storage space?" Weiss frowned at Ruby. "What storage space?"

"Under the rug." Ruby nodded to a large rectangular rug next to the bathroom, currently underneath one of the beds and a small suitcase. "I stuck my maintenance tools and stuff in there while you were out hauling trunks from your airship. I think it's the same square footage as the room."

"Uh... excuse me, I need to make a call." Weiss was blushing a lot today. Ruby supposed that she could move the bed back over to be under the window like it was originally. There was a nice afternoon sunbeam that she wanted to bask in while Weiss called her butler to help her stuff into the cellar.

And that was where the rest of her team found her when they arrived back from dinner. Yang was gracious enough to bring her a bottle of water and a sandwich, quickly devoured. The sun was beginning to set, but the room was getting louder due to Blake and Yang shuffling the room again. She sat up to greet the last member of her team.

"Hi! I'm Ruby. Sorry I didn't say hello earlier, but..." She grabbed at her nape.

Blake raised an eyebrow. "You're fine." Blake's voice was surprisingly quiet and monotone. "Blake Belladonna, but I think you already know that."

Ruby rose from the bed to shake Blake's hand. "Nice to meet you." Blake merely nodded in response, and Ruby curled back up onto her bed. She could feel Blake's eyes linger in surprise on her balled form on the bed, but made no comment as she went back to stowing something into one of the corners. Her momentary peace didn't last long, however. Ruby extended a hand to prevent her from rolling onto her face as Yang sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Are you feeling okay?" Yang whispered.

Ruby peered up at her sister. "I'm fine, Yang. Just... I've been thinking a lot recently." Yang looked concerned. Why would she be?

There was hesitation in her sister's voice. "What is it you're thinking about?"

Ah, there was the question. "The world's not very nice-" She began, yet faltered. What would she say? That feeling of wrongness began creeping up inside of her, but this time Ruby paid it no attention. "I don't want to be alone." She decided. Where that idea came from, she wasn't completely sure. But Ruby knew she loved her family, and she wanted to be a Huntress. The feeling she was trying to express, it was almost morbid in concept. But she was struggling to put it to words. Like the idea was being taught in a foreign language. "No one should be alone. I'll do what I hav-"

Yang grabbed her around the shoulder. "You're not alone, Ruby." She was pulled into her sister's embrace. "You've got me. And now, you've got teammates. I just... don't want to see you like this."

"Like what?"

"You're acting like..." Yang trailed off. Ruby didn't have time to speculate on who she was talking about, as Yang simply sighed and shook her head. "I'll see you in the morning, Ruby."

"Good night." Ruby replied simply. As the lights finally dimmed in the room, Ruby finally felt the tugs of sleep at the corner of her eyes.

* * *

This time, the world of sand wasn't exactly... filled with sand. Ruby found herself in a spartan room, naught but a bedroll, chair, and table occupying it. The door in front of her was open, and she seemed to be able to hear small strains of conversation echoing down a hallway. She approached the doorway and peered outside, only to find a short corridor terminated by a turn in the hallway. "Hello?"

The voices in the distance stopped, and there was a deep pulse of noise coming from right in front of her. Lo and behold, the same shaggy man from before appeared, this time with a smaller girl next to him. Ruby blinked at the red-streaked helmet/mask that the girl was wearing. She couldn't even see her eye through the singular lens on it. "You're back." The man seemed surprised.

Ruby frowned at him. "I wake up here. I don't really have a choice."

"Ah, is that so?" The man sighed. "I guess this is how those damn swords feel all the time, huh."

The girl was frowning at Ruby. "Uh, hi!" She stuck out her hand. "I'm... Ruby. Who are you guys? You're kind of the first people I found here..."

"Coyote Starrk." The man glanced at the smaller girl beside him. "That's Lilynette Gingerbuck."

"Hey, Starrk!" The smaller girl cried out, seemingly in indignation. "Don't go running your mouth now of all times!"

Starrk simply stared impassively at the green-haired girl. "You know it can only help." Realization seemed to dawn in Lilynette's eyes, and she turned back to look at Ruby. Starrk turned to address her as well. "You need help."

"I... I do?" Ruby asked.

"You haven't eaten today." Starrk said simply.

"Yes I have. I ate tha-"

Lilynette was the one to interrupt her this time. "No you didn't. He didn't mean human food, baka."

"Then what did he- oh." Ruby thought back to that cloying sweetness that assaulted her when she killed the Deathstalker.

"Come." Starrk gestured back down the way the pair had gone. Ruby simply followed behind. After all, there wasn't exactly anything else to do. When they arrived at the end of the hallway, Ruby's first instinct was to stare at the ceiling. It was a huge room, pillars holding up large archways. A long table was the centerpiece of the room, with steps leading up to a stage at the other end of the room. Starrk turned back to her. "Here."

Ruby found herself holding a sword. A katana, going by the shape of the blade and the length. The hilt was wrapped in a yellow cord, easily long enough for her to wield in two hands. In fact, she could tell that the sword was too long for her traditionally. Not that it would stop her.

She sent an inquisitive glance at the man in front of her. He simply brandished his own yellow-handled katana. "Training?" She asked him.

"You didn't eat yesterday." Was his response. "You will need to eat soon." Ruby thought back to the Deathstalker, and shuddered a bit. "You will need to get stronger."

Free lessons at night? Well, no one could call her a slacker now. "Why a katana? I'm only good with my scythe..."

Starrk's eyes widened a fraction, while Lilynette let out a barking laugh. "Really? A scythe?"

"Uh, yes?"

Starrk swung his blade to the side. "This is starting to get troublesome..."

Did she tick him off? "No- no! I can learn. It's fine! Uncle Qrow had a sword... At least, it wouldn't hurt. I don't even have Crescent Rose with me anyways..."

Starrk nodded, while Lilynette lounged in one of the chairs, a mischievous smile on her face. "Good luck, Ruby."

And Starrk was in front of her, his katana raking across her chest. The blade failed to cut her skin, but there was no flash of Aura to indicate how much she had left. Instead, that lurching feeling washed over the area, leaving her woozy. "You'll need to be faster."

Okay, that was a bit insulting, to be frank. "Fast? I can be fast!" She disappeared in a blur of petals as her Semblance moved her quicker than the eye could track. The petals flew into Starrk's face as she slashed at his back, only to find his blade in the way. He shoved her two-handed strike to the side with his single-handed grip, blowing her away from him. And then, she found herself on her back, Starrk's blade in her face.

"That was good." He looked positively bored. " If you want to die alone. Faster."

* * *

She blinked the sunlight out of her face. "Oh yeah. North-facing window." The sun was low in the sky, and the clock read five forty. "Why is the sun out already?" Ruby griped. Ah, well. She was awake, and she knew by now she wasn't going to get back to bed. No one else was awake, including Blake, who seemed like the type to be up around now. "Hey, I get the shower to myself, I guess." Ruby whispered to herself.

It was a good thing she managed to suppress her scream, but it still came out as a strangled gasp. She resigned herself to her shower.

Water felt weird when it passed through the hole in her chest.

* * *

Blake blinked at the white peeking out under her new team leader's covers. It almost felt like an invasion of privacy, but the shape was disturbingly familiar. She froze up a bit when she heard a strangled gasp come from the bathroom, but Ruby probably was stepping on the tile or something. This was more important. There was something unsettling about the girl, and Blake was curious. The lump poking out from under the covers was calling out to her.

It wasn't exactly what she was expecting, to be perfectly honest. The mask's single wavy red line was thicker than ones she had seen. The material also seemed strange. But, for whatever reason, Ruby had a mask on her. She turned it over in her hands, the chains attached to the sides clinking slightly. It looked almost like a set of goggles, if the goggles had a giant gaping lower jaw attached to them. Honestly, it was disturbing. The size of the mask would mean the jaw would wrap around her neck, but it was still one of the most unsettling masks she had seen that weren't attached to a Grimm. There was something _off_ about the leader of Team RWBY, and the visor was only the newest, if biggest mysteries about her. Whose mask was this? Was it Ruby's? If it was, why would she be part of the White Fang? If it wasn't, did that mean she was fighting against them? Was it a trophy? Blake slipped the mask back under the covers. Maybe waiting to get to know Ruby better would reveal more than asking her directly.

Who knows? It's not like she could be worse than being a Schnee. Maybe she wouldn't be as alone as she thought.


	4. Nevermore

The rest of the morning was hectic, but Ruby managed to get to breakfast without any major incident. Pulling on her own clothing rather than Weiss's proffered jacket was somewhat of a relief. She would have to remember to return the coat later, when she had the time. Breakfast itself was a quiet affair, with Team RWBY eating together one one edge of the lunchroom.

Ruby looked up from her food to find Blake glancing at her. "Is there something on my face?"

"Er, no." Blake looked somewhat guilty at getting caught. "I just... I don't know much about you guys. I was curious?"

Ruby set aside her adage about curiosity killing the cat, and simply replied "About what?"

Blake seemed ready for the question. "Aren't you a bit young to be a Beacon?"

Oh. She supposed she was, huh. Yang and Weiss were both paying attention now. "I ended up chasing around a criminal a few weeks ago. Roman Torchwick?" Blake blinked before nodding her head at the name. "I was chasing him after he tried to rob a Dust shop. He got away, but I captured the thugs he hired to help him. I met Professor Goodwitch during the fight, then Professor Ozpin afterward. He offered me entry."

Blake nodded, seemingly satisfied. "That was very brave." Blake was observing her intently now. "It's good to see people fighting injustice in the world."

Well, if that wasn't hinting at something. Ruby nodded and resumed her meal, trying her best to give Blake a reassuring smile. Blake seemed nice, if not a bit strange. What wasn't very nice, however, was her meal, sitting cold and uneaten on her tray. She sighed and got up. Nothing else to do but to head to class, then.

* * *

Professor Port wasn't exactly a bad teacher, per se. Rather, it would be hard to call him a teacher at all. She was reminded of grandfathers in books who would brag about their exploits during the war, or that deer they got two winters ago with nothing but a sharpened stick. Ruby didn't mind his stories, however. She was focusing intently on every word, if only to distract her from that maddening smell coming from a box down by the podium.

There was a Grimm in there, she could smell it. It wasn't moving as of this moment, but the combination of the cage and the aroma left little to her imagination. Of course, doing her best to not think about it only made it harder on herself. Why did Professor Port even have a Grimm in a cage anyways?

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Ruby gave a glance around the room, finding the room was hesitant to raise a hand. She managed to catch Weiss's eye, and gave her a whispered "Go for it." She didn't trust herself to not try to bite the Grimm in the box in half if she were to fight it herself. Besides, Crescent Rose was still unrepaired, resting forlornly in her locker.

Weiss nodded and calmly raised a hand.

"Then come and face your opponent." Port gestured to the cage, which began to shake and shudder violently. Weiss took up Myrtenaster and stood ready and waiting at the center of the classroom, the rest of the students suddenly interested in Port's lecture. To no one's surprise, the box contained a Boarbatusk, which proceeded to spin madly like an untethered wheel as it charged the nearest person. Fortunately, that person happened to be holding a sword.

It wasn't like she wasn't interested in the fight, but Ruby had a hard time seeing Weiss die to the small Grimm. After all, there was a room full of Huntsmen right there, ready to kill the thing even her partner couldn't do it. Besides, Ruby was bust biting down hard on her pencil, doing her best not to jump down there and skewer the thing herself. "Not my fight." The little mantra she muttered helped keep her in her seat. Is this what Starrk meant? That empty space in her chest was aching. She needed to eat... would she even last the day?

Weiss finally managed to kill the damn thing, smoke spreading across the classroom. Ruby valiantly tried to resist the impulse to inhale as deeply as she could, and chose to simply sink into her textbook. She had managed to chew the pencil all the way through now, the eraser sitting wet on her desk. She didn't hesitate to flee the room when Port called the lesson over.

* * *

"Professor Goodwitch?" Ruby approached the podium at the start of combat class.

"Yes, Miss Rose?" Professor Goodwitch wasn't being mean, Ruby decided. She was just short with everyone. The teacher managed to remind her a little of Starrk.

"My weapon is broken. I don't think I can participate in sparring today." She brought out Crescent Rose, the crushed slide turned to face the teacher. Ruby noted with dismay a small line fracture on the other slide, gone unnoticed until now.

Goodwitch pushed her glasses slightly up her face. "You know where the forges are, correct?"

Ruby shook her head. "No. Er, no, ma'am."

The professor simply sighed, handing her a slip of paper, a manilla folder, and a room number written on a sticky note. "Basement floor, down the stairs at the end of the hallway. Center of the building. Take this note to the forgemaster. As your next class will be there, I will allow you to repair your weapon or create a new one during this time. If you do not have it repaired by then, please borrow something from the armory for tomorrow. I will expect your participation."

Ruby nodded and scampered away.

* * *

The forgemaster, Professor Peach, was tending to a group of second years when Ruby walked in to the forges. Her bright pink hair was long and combed entirely to one side, gathered in a rather large bun. She was wearing a brown apron over a tight-fitting sweater and thick working gloves, and was demonstrating to the students what appeared to be a power hammer.

"Excuse me?" Ruby called out over the roar of the fires. Professor Peach had turned off the power hammer already, the rod of shaped steel seemingly ready to be hammered by hand. Instead, she simply doused it in a trough of oil and removed her face mask.

"Yes, miss?" her voice was light and had an intriguing accent that Ruby couldn't place right away.

"I have a note from Professor Goodwitch." She handed the woman her note. "She said I can try to repair Crescent Rose."

Peach nodded. "Right. Let's see. First year Ruby Rose, I have you next period. It's noted here you made your weapon yourself?"

"Yeah." Ruby smiled at Peach. "I'm pretty proud of it."

"Let me see." Peach gestured to the gun at Ruby's back.

Crescent Rose was being held over a workbench that was open on all four sides, the second years now crowding around it at Peach's gesture. "I hope you don't mind, Miss Rose, that I turn this into a teaching moment for my class. After all, this is their learning time."

Ruby shook her head. "Go ahead."

Peach took the time to rest Crescent Rose on a thick wool fire blanket after removing the ammunition and clearing the chamber. With a pair of needle nose pliers, Peach began pointing at and commenting on each individual part of the scythe's construction, critiquing and complimenting on each individual mechashift or joint design. Ruby herself began taking notes. Professor Peach was really, really good at making weapons, wasn't she? She was only slightly startled when Peach asked her something she didn't catch. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Could you remove this plate here, please?" Peach gestured to the crushed slide. Ruby nodded, removing two security screws and a slide from the top of the weapon, sliding off a cap, and removing the plate from the rest of the assembly. While some of the electronics underneath were exposed for the class to see, the rest was still hidden under the barrel's casing. She handed the plate to Peach, who nodded before turning over the plate to note the stress lines on the back of it.

"Look here, class. What could cause this sort of damage to this particular thickness of steel?"

One boy with deep blue hair raised a hand. "It doesn't look like impact damage." he began hesitantly. At Peach's nod, he continued. "It looks like crushing force. I don't know, did a Grimm step on it?" This time, Peach shook her head in the negative, glancing at Ruby for permission to continue. At her nod, she gestured at another student, this one a girl wearing shades.

"The stress lines converge too close together for that. It looks more like a Semblance to me. Someone grabbed the gun about here." She jabbed a finger at the metal. "Someone too strong to use it, crushed the thing in his hands."

Ruby blinked in surprise. Did she? When Peach looked at her for confirmation, she gestured to the sheet with a shrug. "Yeah."

Professor Peach made a questioning noise, but said nothing. Instead, her attention was directed at Crescent Rose. "Miss Rose, you know there is more damage other than the plate here, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Uh huh. I saw the fracture on the other side plate. That needs replacing."

Peach lifted the gun gently from Ruby's hands, leaving her holding the plate. "No, I meant here." She pointed flipped the gun upside down as she pointed her pliers at the electronics box, where Ruby could see nothing particularly wrong.

"What's wrong with it?"

"There's stress all along the barrel's casing here, and on the barrel near the hammer." The pliers moved backwards to point above the magazine. "I don't think that this is repairable in this state without a new barrel, Miss Rose. Did you continue using Crescent Rose after it was first damaged?"

Ruby paled. "Y-yes." She admitted. "It happened during initiation. I just wanted to get it over with."

Peach sighed. "Well, it will take a few weeks to recreate the weapon, after modifications to reinforce the slides and barrel." Ruby nodded at the professor's stern tone. "I'm teaching your next class. I'll help you make blueprints then. For now, go to the armory and find something. Let me see your scroll, dear." She pointed to a green door on the other end of the room as she fiddled with something on Ruby's scroll. "You're clear to enter, there's a cleaning station just outside the room."

After cranking open the latch and scanning her Scroll on the verification lock, Ruby walked into a long hallway that was significantly colder than the forge. On both walls were several cases bathed in bright white light, each with a weapon contained within.

Pistols, swords, axes, rifles, shotguns, and other more esoteric weapons were all on display, the ones towards the back showing more obvious signs of wear than those in the front. It was towards the back that Ruby found something curious.

She pressed her scroll to the case scanner, and the lid popped open with a hiss of pressurized air. Inside lay a simple black sheath, with a curved handle emerging from the right side and a thick black strap across the length of it. She flipped it over in her hands and drew the weapon. "Whoa." After what had been probably years in storage, the blade didn't rattle in the sheath and was even a bit sticky as it was drawn. Still, it was an unusual blade, more curved than she presumed a katana would be. The label had called it a tachi, left here about twenty years ago. It was a dull, deep red, with a smooth, unwrapped handle. The balance was different than the katana she had used last night, and it was very slightly longer. "Just a sword, huh? 'Nevermore'." She checked the plate on the case for care instructions before bringing the blade and sheath out of the armory slung across her back.

The blade polished and sharpened beautifully, after all the years of storage. After mechanics class with Peach was advisory period, then lunch. After clearing with the professor, Ruby went to stow Nevermore in her locker before the next class.

"I need to eat."


	5. Feast

Ruby found it hard to find the Emerald forest eerie, but it was quiet. Maybe a bit too quiet for midday, but that suited her just fine. She almost felt like a criminal, playing hooky out to the Emerald Forest during school, but she was tired of agonizing over Starrk's words. Nevermore was slung across her back, awkwardly sharing space with her cloak and causing the right side to drape higher than the left.

The first Grimm she stumbled across in the forest was a lone Beowolf. "Well, Ruby, you found one." Her voice almost seemed to boom over the sounds of insects, but the Grimm made no indication that it had heard her. Of course, it did hear the sound of Nevermore being freed from its sheath, but that warning came just a bit too late. One clean slash across the midsection, and the Beowulf was dead.

It thunked to the ground in two pieces, smoke leaking from the cut. Ruby crouched, grabbing one of the arms, and inhaled as deeply as she could through her nose. Once again, it wasn't a smell that assaulted her, but a strange famiscile of a scent that sent shivers running down her spine. Somewhere, in nagging her, was the thought that something was wrong. Well, of course it was wrong! She was eating a Grimm! But her own objections sounded hollow and weak, much like her stomach. "Well Ruby, no time like the present." She sunk her front teeth into the Beowulf's arm.

Her first thought was surprise at the lack of fur in her first bite. It looked furry, and it felt furry, but it seemed to melt as it hit her tongue, just like the meat of the arm. But it tasted good, it tasted like anything at all, and that was what mattered. A second bite separated the hand from the rest of the body, causing it to dissolve faster than the rest of it. It dropped to the ground, but she chose to ignore it in favor of the torso attached to the end of the arm in her hands. There was no resistance, no bones or cartilage to contend with her teeth, and the body was warm. So she bit, and tore, and ripped the thing apart until she couldn't find anything solid left in the smoky remains of the Beowulf. She was panting now, her consumption leaving her little time to breathe int between mouthfuls of food. She clambered to her feet. The sole Beowulf was admittedly delicious. But she was still hungry. "And when there's one Beowulf, there's more..."

It took her a better part of an hour to hunt down more Beowolves and eat her fill. It was rather frustrating sometimes, because the bodies began to dissolve as soon as she cut them down. She wasted a good ten Beowolves because she had killed them all and started to eat afterwards, but they simply dissipated in the wind. So when she found a more sizable pack of them, she improvised.

Ruby was sitting in the fork of a tree, happily sucking down another Grimm. She had been picking off the Beowolves one at a time and dragging them into trees to prevent the others from reaching her before she could finish. From what she could remember, this was her thirtieth? She frowned as the last of her feast dissolved in her mouth. "What time is it?" She pulled out her scroll. "Oh. I'm... gonna be late for-!" The rest was lost in the wind as a rose-colored rocket zoomed towards Beacon Academy.

* * *

Ruby was in a decidedly better mood the rest of the day, especially because she wasn't late for history. Okay, maybe by a minute, but Professor Oobleck had just started and had ignored her blur into a seat as he began dashing about the room in his own short bursts. She sat with the rest of her team, who glanced at her questioningly but said nothing. After all, nobody wanted Oobleck to put them on the spot for talking in class.

After history was a math class with Peach, and then athletics with Goodwitch. As the day wrapped up with a two mile run, Team RWBY met together in the locker room. Weiss was first to ask. "Where were you, Ruby?" The Schnee had a small frown on her face. "We didn't see you at lunch."

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck. "I was sort of on my own. Uh, training."

"Training?"

"Yeah. I have to use a replacement weapon tomorrow in sparring class because I kinda broke Crescent Rose."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "You broke it? I thought it was working fine all through initiation."

"It's uh, supposed to be a scythe, not just a rifle."

Weiss blinked. "Huh. Well, I guess that explains some of that."

Yang butted in. So, what are you using? Did you find another good rifle in the armory? I bet it turns into a club or something."

Ruby shook her head. "No. Here, let me grab it." She made her way to her locker, where Nevermore was quickly stashed before she got to class. When she pulled out the blade, there were a few mixed reactions. Weiss was duly unimpressed. Blake seemed startled looking at it, then perhaps a bit wary. And Yang was... not happy.

"Where did you get that?" There was a bit of an edge to her voice.

"Uh, the armory." Ruby was a bit confused. Yang wouldn't... "Oh. I guess this was probably-"

"Yeah." Yang cut her off, before sighing and turning to her teammates. "Sorry guys, touchy subject. So, why that one?"

"I don't know. It just seemed... right. I've always wanted to learn how to use a sword, too. I might ask to keep it."

Blake was frowning almost as much as Yang. "So, you got it from the school?"

Okay, this was just getting more confusing. "Yeah, I said I found it in the armory. I was just practicing with it today."

Blake shook her head. "Sorry, it's nothing, I just thought it looked familiar. I was surprised, is all."

"Well, sure." She stowed the blade away and looked around. "Today was a pretty good first day at Beacon, all things considered. Want to head back to the dorm?"

Weiss nodded. "I need to get started on the essay Oobleck has us writing. I can order us food later."

The other two agreed to Weiss' volunteering, and Team RWBY spent a productive and quiet evening doing homework with some delivered orange chicken and rice. Yang cracked her jokes, Blake read her book, and Weiss diligently wrote that history paper due in two weeks. Ruby was content to sit on her bed and do math, small bites taken out of her now cool chicken. Of course, that fragile thing called peace shattered right when Team RWBY was getting ready for bed.

"Honestly, it's not a big deal. The hole doesn't hurt." Ruby pulled on a tank top, making her way towards her bed.

"But..." Blake squinted. "I have no idea what question to ask right now."

"It is real, right?" Weiss seemed disturbed, but she wasn't looking away.

"Yeah." Ruby shifted under the covers. "It's not a big deal." she insisted. Her teammates objections and concerns faded away to the glow of moonlight.

* * *

"Well, you look healthy." Lilynette was the first person Ruby found. Ruby gave the small girl a questioning look. "I mean, you're not thin as a stick anymore."

Rube glanced down at her hands, finding nothing wrong. "I don't think there's anything different."

"Well, trust me. You managed to eat today, yeah?" Ruby nodded. "Come on. Starrk is waiting."

When they arrived at the same room as the night before, Starrk was sitting at a chair, head on his hands. Lilynette simply got up on the table and proceeded to kick him in the head. "Ita."

"Come on, Starrk. She's here."

Starrk glanced up at Ruby, who was fiddling with the bone on her jawline. "You're here."

"I just said that, idiot!"

Ruby ignored Lilynette's outburst and waved at Starrk. "Hi?"

Starrk raised his head and turned to look at her. "I guess it's time for training." He didn't seemed too enthused by the prospect, but Lilynette was glaring daggers at him. "You dying would be troublesome, I suppose. Okay." He got up onto the table. "You're topped up, for now. Don't forget to eat tomorrow, yeah?" He tossed her a katana. "Otherwise you're gonna run out of reiryoku. Time to practice cero." The word managed to put a small smirk on Starrk's face.

Something about that made Ruby very, very nervous.


	6. Fight

Ruby lowered her sword arm, which was starting to ache. "So, you can fire one of these from your shoulders?" Starrk gave her a nod. They were outside the structure now, moonlight illuminating the rivers of glass that streaked across the desert. Ruby sighed. "That sounds... really hard."

"It takes practice." Starrk conceded. He said nothing more, and gestured for her to continue.

Raising her left arm, Ruby allowed her reiryoku to build and extend outwards. She found it was easier to think of the ball forming around her hand as a little whirlpool, gathering together and building power until the ball was twice the size of her fist. "Cero."

The beam she fired wasn't the same as Starrk's. Starrk had a blue energy, like the sky above. The ground would wash with a beautiful blue light, and it would glint on the sand as he fired. Lilynette didn't show off to Ruby, but informed her that her own energy was light green. She fully expected her beam to be red. After all, her Aura was red. However, to her disappointment, it was simply a flat, boring white, with tinges of grey at the edges where the beam was thinner. Starrk had called it silver, but when she was firing one, she couldn't really see much of anything at all. So, it was grey.

"What exactly is reiryoku?"

Starrk exhaled. "I don't know. Do I look like a scientist to you?"

"Is it like Aura? Like, your soul?"

Starrk rubbed his face with a gloved hand. "I guess. Sure."

"Honestly, most of this is instinctual for us. Don't think too hard or you'll end up a nerd like Sayazel." Lilynette elaborated.

Ruby wasn't satisfied with the answer, but it was all she had. She tried moving on to a different topic after firing another Cero, this time with her off hand. "So, what happened to me, exactly? I mean, I'm not calling you guys weird or anything, but..." She gave glanced at Starrk.

He simply shrugged. "We were fighting some Soul Reaper. We died, we woke up here." Starrk got up from his seated position. "There's no one else here. As far as I can tell, this is your inner world, your soul."

Ruby frowned. "How does that work? Souls aren't a place, are they? They're a thing inside of us. And I have a hole thing. Holes right there are usually symbolic. Or, y'know. Fatal?"

"Like I said, I'm not a scientist. But supposedly Soul Reapers have an inner world type of thing where their sword spirits live in. I guess this is similar."

That... didn't help much at all. But it was an explanation that she could try to parse. "How'd you get in my soul then? And why's it so big and empty?" She fired another cero, this time straight up. As shadows were cast across the landscape, the dunes sparkled like broken glass.

Lilynette shrugged. They were doing that a lot, and it was starting to get old. "No clue. Maybe if you could use Resurreccion..."

"Uh, what?"

Lilynette turned to give Starrk a glare, who sighed and stood, wiping the sand off of his back. "Resurreccion is when you unseal your whole power. The Soul Reapers called it Shikai, or Bankai."

"Why would you seal your power? Wouldn't it be better to be as strong as possible?"

"Hrm." Starrk shook his head. "There can be problems if you leave your power unsealed." He sent a look at Lilynette, who nodded in agreement. "Watch. Kick about. Los Lobos."

Ruby winced at the sudden explosion of light that enveloped the pair. But she did watch. The energies pulling around her, and from her, were impossible to ignore. They glowed gently in the air, and When Starrk emerged from the smoke, she could only stare. "Cool outfit." Well, if that wasn't the stupidest thing she had said today.

"Hn." Starrk brought up two pistols. There were black with silver plates on the side, the triggers not leading to any chamber. Rather, they seemed to be pulling on a switch from something at the front of the gun. "Whatever. Just look."

"Ooh!" Ruby sprung up towards him, ignoring the strange pressure that had been building behind her eyeballs. "Pistols, Starrk? I didn't peg you for pistols."

"Is that right?"

"Nope. I thought you'd be using some sorta shotgun, actually." Starrk simply raised an eyebrow. Ruby glanced around. "Hey, where's Lilynette?"

"I'm right here." one of the guns spoke in a crackly voice, like there was a radio installed in it.

Ruby started, then stared at the gun on her left. "Lilynette?"

"Yeah, I'm the gun." Lilynette sounded annoyed.

"How're you doing that?"

"Resurreccion." Starrk replied. He brought up one of his guns and pulled the trigger. Instead of a bullet, Ruby was once again blinded by the blast of one of Starrk's Cero.

"So... you're also a gun?" Lilynette wasn't amused by Ruby's laughter.

* * *

Morning came, and Ruby felt rested for once. She had spent the rest of the night meditating with Starrk and Lilynette, supposedly to help her achieve some sort of connection. It was making her restless, she had found. Sitting still wasn't her forte, was it? But now, it was morning, and she had classes, which meant more sitting. This time, she wasn't the first to rise, as the sounds of the shower were a soft white noise in the background. Now, what time was it?

"Hey, guys. Wake up. It's six-thirty." Blake was the one on the shower, so she ended up waking Weiss and Yang. Yang wasn't one to surrender her blankets this morning, it seemed. The sounds of the shower stopped.

"Later Ruby. Couldn't sleep. Had a creepy dream." Yang turned over.

Ruby let out a huff and left her sister alone. "Hey Weiss. It's six-thirty." Unlike Yang, Weiss made it awake. "Six-thirty? I set an alarm for six."

"I know." Blake had stepped out of the bathroom. "Next time, wake up to turn it off."

"Sorry." And Weiss sounded sorry. Ruby wasn't sure why that was so surprising. "Had trouble sleeping."

"Didn't we all?" Blake raised an eyebrow at Ruby.

"What?" Ruby blinked. "Are you still worried about me? I'm fine."

"You have a hole through your chest."

"It's fine." Ruby insisted once more. She closed herself in the bathroom.

Sparring class. Oh, finally! Ruby wasn't grinning, but she could feel the energy building just underneath her skin, giving her goosebumps. She needed to tear into something.

"Miss Rose, you have a weapon for class today?" Glynda Goodwitch asked from the stage. Ruby nodded, gesturing to the sword draped across her back. "Very good. I didn't get to evaluate you in the first class period, so you'll be first today." Goodwitch glanced at the room. "Your opponent... Miss Nikos, if you would. Five minute round."

Pyrrha seemed to be okay with fighting her, getting to the stage before Ruby had even thought about moving herself. She joined Pyrrha, aligning her feet to the taped line that defined starting positions. Nevermore came off of her shoulder, held loosely in two hands. The opponent's chest and lower face were obscured by a shield coming up, spear held at shoulder level. She couldn't help but feel excited, like she wanted . Goodwitch glanced at the two combatants, and nodded. "Begin."

Surprisingly, Pyrrha acted first, maybe hoping to unbalance Ruby by attacking with a downwards angle. Just get it in the way. She pushed forward with Nevermore's hilt, twisting it so that it would hopefully catch on one of the extruding parts of Pyrrha's javelin. If it was just a spear, that wouldn't have worked at all, but the blade ran across the flat of her javelin and caught on a joint. She saw Pyrrha glance at the point of contact before slamming Ruby in the gut with the edge of her shield, which sent her skidding towards the edge of the arena. Okay, time to take the initiative.

The world stretched and Ruby was behind her opponent, swinging down at her neck. Pyrrha had good reactions, twirling so that Nevermore was shoved aside as it glanced off of her backplate. She backed up quickly, sending a quick stab at Ruby with her javelin, which was knocked aside. The two competitors eased into a wary silence, the only sound being Pyrrha's spear becoming a short sword, held with confidence. A sword? She could deal with that better than Pyrrha's spear, she supposed. Go! She swung down with the heaviest strike she could muster, hoping to cut her shoulder. Instead, the shield came up faster than Ruby thought a normal student could, and Nevermore was blown to the side, leaving her overextended. Pyrrha's opportunity, then, as she mirrored Ruby's two-handed strike with her own one-handed weapon. It hit Ruby surprisingly hard, Pyrrha was strong! Good thing for Ruby that her opponent wasn't nearly as fast as her.

She disengaged as quickly as she could, a cool feeling settling on her shoulders. Her aura and reiryoku were swirling excitedly, but the nausea she normally would feel was nowhere to be found. It had only been a few blows, but she was already getting this feeling? That same feeling from the forest.

There was an opponent in front of her. She let her eyes droop a little. Relax, keep your grip firm and loose. And go faster. Behind Pyrrha once more, Ruby tried to hit on her sword side. The other red sword came between them, but instead of disengaging, Ruby chose to push back, sliding Nevermore down as she tried to shove Pyrrha down. Pyrrha was the one to jump back this time with a grunt, bringing her shield up warily. Maybe it was the crowd, maybe it was the blood rushing in her ears, maybe it was the strange burning in her gut to fight, but she simply dashed up to her opponent and sent two, three, four swings at Pyrrha, all deflected and redirected to harmlessly glance off of the bronze shield. Attack, block, dodge. Try and get behind, attack again. Gunfire! Try and close, dodge. There was a strange rhythm forming between the two combatants, and Ruby could feel her attacks getting sucked into a cadence. She could never quite land a solid hit on her opponent, always deflected or dodged barely. At the same time, Pyrrha was just so slow. Especially now that Ruby was getting into it. She started relying less on short bursts of Semblance and simply outsped Pyrrha, always ready to deflect her sword with a forearm or with Nevermore. Her right sleeve had fallen off somewhere in the fight, cut to ribbons by Pyrrha's sword, but she had a hard time caring. This was really, really fun! Maybe she could try... her right hand began to gather power.

"Time!" Ruby and Pyrrha startled together, Ruby looking into her opponent's widening eyes. Pyrrha was mid thrust, Ruby bringing up Nevermore to block. The spear pulled away from Ruby's chest at an odd angle before clattering to the ground. The glanced together at the overhead screen, to see that yes, time had run out. Five whole minutes of sparring, and both of them still had over thirty percent of their aura left.

Pyrrha brought out a hand to shake, which Ruby took. They both looked to the professor, who simply shook her head. "By points, Miss Nikos would be the winner in a sanctioned match. But this was an evaluation, not a competition." Ruby felt some sense of satisfaction coming from the professor, but chose to make no comment on it. "Thank you girls." She turned to look at the rest of the class. "The rest of the one on one sparring will be randomized, no time limit matches. I anticipate we will finish the pool at the end of the month. Tomorrow and Thursday will be physical training for the first half of class. Friday we will be team sparring. Please do work on your teamwork tomorrow and Thursday. Today, however, we want to get started on the random pool. Miss Rose, Miss Nikos, you won't be called today. Thank you. Next up..."

* * *

Lunch was a similar affair as the day before, but this time Ruby had a better handle on her time. Eating didn't take long now that she knew what she was doing. Professor Peach had been helping her redesign Crescent Rose to be less fragile, and Ruby was taking the opportunity to possibly make some changes herself. When Peach asked about the strange channel that Ruby had running on the right side of the gun, it was explained away as a cosmetic thing. Fortunately, Peach didn't object and simply designed around it.

She still had a good fifteen minutes of lunch left over when she was done, so she found herself back in her dorm room. Blake glanced up at the intruder only to find her team leader there, crossing the room to her own desk.

"That was pretty reckless. I didn't take you for the type." Blake's voice was always soft and considerate, wasn't it?

"Did you mean the spar?"

Blake nodded. "You two were really going at it. It was like watching a movie at the end, when the Professor called time."

"I don't know about that. It was fun, though."

"Fun?" Blake asked.

"Yeah. I don't know, all the sitting and studying had me restless, I guess." Ruby tried to explain.

"Ruby, can I ask you something?" Oh. Now that was a tone of voice Ruby hadn't heard since two days ago.

"Shoot." She mimed a finger pistol. Blake, instead of asking her question immediately, reached under her pillow and brought out a gleaming bone mask. Was that...? Oh, it was!

"Is this yours?"

"Oh! Mhm." Ruby nodded, grabbing the mask from Blake and turning it over in her hands. It was the first time she had seen the red streaks across the left side before, that reminded her first of Lilynette, then of the White Fang. The mask slipped onto her face as naturally as a second skin, and her reiryoku seemed to hum in agreement. Blake flinched.

Wait, what was that? Blake's bow was twitching, almost nervously. "Where did you get that?" Blake sounded much more wary now.

She frowned. "I honestly don't know." Blake seemed a bit incredulous at that statement. "I guess it's the same place I got this hole." She pushed at her shirt and let the fabric from crinkles that showed off the hole in her chest. "I guess... I got it from Starrk?"

"Who's Starrk?"

"Ah, one of my... teachers, I guess. At night I'll go meet with him and we'll train together." Okay, explaining her dreams was hard, and she didn't want Blake thinking she was a nutjob as well as a freak, now did she? It was hard to build team bonds with a hole in her chest! "He's a bit of a lone wolf type." Sometimes she would think Starrk was a wolf Faunus. She could imagine the grey ears sticking out from under his hair.

"So... he's not White Fang, is he?"

Ruby shook her head. "Don't think so. I wear this when we train together. He's got one too."

"Oh. Well..." Blake seemed to struggle with her words.

"Why are you asking about the White Fang anyways, Blake?" Ruby tilted her head at Blake with the best curious expression she could muster. It seemed to work, because Blake cracked pretty quickly. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to?

"I was... involved with them a while back. I saw the mask, and thought maybe you were hunting them, or maybe part of them. I had to know." She seemed insistent.

"Well, now you know." Ruby noted that the conversation was over and gave herself an imaginary pat on the back. Blake seemed to want to object, but Ruby glanced at the clock. "Come on, Blake." She gave her best 'commanding officer' voice. "Let's get to class." She gave Blake a bit of a goofy grin and a bow, popping her mask off and dropping it in a drawer.

"I honestly have a hard time not believing you, when you put things that bluntly." Blake was giving her a sly smile now too. "Are you always this direct?"

Ruby simply nodded, and the two held a comfortable silence together on their way to history.


End file.
